A proposal for a seismological study of the Gulf of California

Abstract

The Gulf of California appears to be the linear extensión of the San Andreas Fault. Hamilton (1961) has suggested that the Península of Baja California was separated laterally from the Mexican mainland sorne time following the late Mesozoic by a type of cross-strike movemcnt with flooding of the rcsu!tant gap. The primary motion according to Hamilton is right lateral strikc-slip parallel to the axis of the Gulf consistent with the earthquake motions along the San Andreas Fault to the north. He postulates that Cape San Lucas and Banderas Bay were, at one time, structures in contanct. Displacem ent of these two geographical points is in good agreement with the displacement along the San Andrcas fault (Crowell, 1962) in the region to the north. Several competing conjectures of the origin of the Gulf of California are given by Allison (1964).